Expressive Communication Difficulties

Autism can present itself in many different ways.  In general, it is a disorder that affects a child's ability to communicate, understand language, play, and relate to others.  Today I'm going to focus on expressive communication difficulties.  As many of us know, expressive language is, plainly put, what we say to others.  As I said, children with autism often have a difficulty with communicating.  Some children with autism may have a delay in expressive language development, while other children may never develop meaningful speech.

Some expressive communication difficulties children with may have:

• Speech may be rote (seems scripted)
• Repetitive (child may repeat a sound, word, or phrase over and over again)
• Lack communicative meaning (may speak, but content of speech does not relate to the conversation/surroundings)
• Difficulty with taking turns in conversation
• Preoccupation with one conversational topic
• May go on tangents or off topic

This link provides some strategies for learning and teaching (for both expressive and receptive language disorders -- which is helpful, since children with autism could have difficulty with either skill).  One very helpful tip from that site is to "use picture or photographs to reinforce and review the vocabulary that has been taught".  This also provides students with an opportunity to use those same pictures to express the new vocabulary.

This site has even more information!  The PDF titled Word-Finding Difficulties and Strategies does just that: explains the difficulties and provides strategies for both school and home.  This is a great resource!

Another wonderful resource I found can be accessed by clicking this link.  It provides strategies, mostly using pictures, for students with expressive language difficulties.  I will be talking about some specific strategies (and utilizing information from this site!) in my next few posts. 

References: Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders
Landmark Outreach
http://www.specialed.us/autism/assist/asst13.htm